Q: New York doesn’t seem to intimidate you?
A: I think probably nothing can compare to New York, but if anything’s close, it’s gonna be Boston, when it comes to the spotlight and expectation for the fans and all that kinda stuff. … I like it. Obviously, I’m not the star player — I’m very well taken care of by the Yankees, but I might not quite get the attention that your big starting pitchers and your All-Star position players get, but I like it. I think I personally thrive in a situation that winning is expected, and that’s what we’re out there to do, and what the fans expect, the media expects. I think that’s the most fun. It’s the most rewarding when you do win. When we go out and win as the Yankees, it’s gonna be so much fun to reap those rewards, and I think I thrive in that situation. I’m not a fan of playing in ballparks [that] aren’t full or at less-than-ideal capacity. I love coming into Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park, or wherever, and having a crowd, whether they’re for you or against you, it’s full.

Q: What is your on-the-mound mentality?
A: Just attack and be aggressive. Go get the hitter as quickly as I can, and trust my ability to get him out in the strike zone.

Q: Does a closer need a different kind of mentality?
A: I don’t think so. I think it’s still batter-to-batter, pitch-to-pitch. … There might be a little bit of a tweak in how you manage the game because you’re not handing the ball off to somebody else. If you have a three-run lead, it’s not ideal, but you can give up one or two runs and still win the game and have done your job. But if you’re in the eighth inning, you have a three-run lead, you want to give the closer all three of those runs. So it’s a little bit different at times, but when it comes to mentality and how you approach it, it shouldn’t be any different.

Q: Do you enjoy it?
A: Yeah, I’ve loved the opportunities I’ve had so far. Some of ’em have been pretty stressful, pretty testing opportunities, but it’s been great. For me, I think certainly having some success at the start of the season is nice. You want to build off of that as quickly as you possibly can.

Q: Is Alex Rodriguez as a teammate different than you might have thought he would be?
A: I certainly had an image in my head of what he was like playing against him for a handful of years. Obviously, he’s been one of the most well-known players, and certainly a figure that’s gotten a lot of attention lately. But he’s been great. He’s been a model teammate since I’ve played with him. He’s got that spotlight on him, he’s handled it exceptionally well. He’s playing well, which certainly helps, and we’re glad he’s on our side right now.

Q: Do you remember any specific at-bats pitching against him?
A: Yeah. He hit a home run off of me in Detroit, to the opposite field [Aug. 24, 2007]. Detroit’s not an easy place to hit a homer. … It was a pretty big homer. I think I threw a fastball by him and decided I’d try to throw one a little bit harder and do it again, and it didn’t work out in my favor (chuckle). I’ll never forget, the first time you face him, he’s so balanced, and his swing is so compact and powerful at the same time, that you can’t find an easy way to get him out.

Andrew Miller and Alex Rodriguez high-five Mark Teixeira.Getty Images

Q: He still has a presence at the plate, doesn’t he?
A: Absolutely. You can tell guys are a little anxious pitching to him, they don’t know where to go. Some of the balls he’s hit have been incredibly far.

Q: Describe what it’s like being a New York Yankee.
A: It’s probably the most well-known organization in professional sports, and you hear guys talking about putting on the pinstripes or just the history and the camaraderie that goes along with that kinda stuff, it’s a neat place, it’s a neat opportunity, and I’m fortunate to have been given this opportunity, but I’m just real excited. It’s been after experience so far, and I think the way to fully enjoy the experience is we need to go out and win, and I think it’d be hard to beat winning here.

Q: What drives you?
A: The chance to be successful at this level. It’s not easy, but it’s a lot of fun when you are. It’s a big accomplishment when you can succeed at the major league level, you’re the best of the best.

Q: Do you sense when you go into visiting ballparks an aura about the Yankees and the uniform?
A: Maybe a little bit more have bigger targets on our back from hecklers and that kind of stuff, but a team like this that regardless of how good the team is, the name recognition the Yankees have is gonna bring a bigger spotlight on you. Honestly, I think that’s more fun, I think you want to play in parks that are full and you want that attention because it makes the game more fun as far as I’m concerned.

Q: What do you recall about the first time you pitched at Yankee Stadium?
A: It was my major league debut [Aug. 30, 2006], so I recall a lot of it. It was quite the experience. … I’ll never forget how on top of you the upper deck was in old Yankee Stadium. It doesn’t get any better than that. Even now, coming into new Yankee Stadium, there’s something special about it. It’s one of the places I really enjoy going to play in.

Q: Did you break Derek Jeter’s bat?
A: I did. I think somebody might have asked for it, but I don’t think we got very far. I think I threw him a cutter and broke his bat to get out of the inning. Johnny Damon hit a ball pretty hard to right, I hit [Craig] Wilson in the knee, I think. It was one of those whirlwind experiences, it was a lot of fun, and I’ll never forget standing on the mound looking over … [Wilson] was on first base and … laughing with Sean Casey and I was facing Derek Jeter, it kinda hit me that I’m in the big leagues, and not only that, I’m facing all these superstar players in Yankee Stadium, which is pretty cool.

Q: Do you think your height helps you on the mound?MillerPaul J. Bereswill

A: I get asked that question a lot. I can’t relate to what it’s like to be 5-10 or 7-feet tall. I’m 6-foot-6 or 6-7 or whatever. That’s all I know. But I think it certainly gives you advantages when it comes to leverage and angles and that kinda stuff that I would say you don’t see very often, but if you look at major league rosters now, it seems like that’s the ordinary thing. It’s all I know, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

Q: How frustrating were your years in Florida?
A: I learned a lot. I certainly think I’m better for that experience, but I didn’t play well. I had some injuries, like nagging-type things, nothing major, but just kinda stuff that made it a grind. In hindsight, it wasn’t a good fit for me. It wasn’t for lack of effort on my end, I don’t think, and certainly not on the staff. But I never really felt comfortable there and just developed a lot of bad habits. Fortunately, I found my way through it, and I got to go to Boston where it was a different atmosphere, and I think it was nice to get to a place where I felt like all that mattered was what I could do to help the team win a game. There was no spotlight, I wasn’t answering questions anymore about being traded for Miguel Cabrera, that kinda stuff. I think I thrived in that situation.

Q: Whose decision was it to move you to the bullpen?
A: I don’t think it was really my decision. I got hurt in spring training [with the Red Sox in 2012], I pulled my hamstring on the second pitch I threw. I was supposed to be competing for the fifth spot, and I was out of options, so I really didn’t get a chance to participate in spring training. I went on rehab assignment, by then the rotation sorted itself out, so it’s just kind of a natural progression. Maybe it would have happened anyway, I don’t know. … I would like to think I went into that season throwing the ball pretty well, and maybe I would have won that competition, but it just didn’t work out. In hindsight, this is probably the best thing that could have happened. I think pitching regularly, pitching more frequently in shorter stints has been good for me. I’ve really kinda found my niche.

Q: You probably never envisioned yourself in the major leagues in the bullpen, or as a closer.
A: My goal all along has been to find a way to be a good player on a good team, and however I can do that is fine by me. Starters always have a hesitancy to go to the bullpen because it doesn’t pay as well to be a reliever as it does to be a starter. And hey, we’re not stupid. We all want to have as much success in the game in whatever way, and that includes getting paid the most money so, when you’re young and you look at the best opportunities to do that, you want to be a starting pitcher, and for me, it just didn’t work out. I had plenty of chances, I just never found a success, the consistency I need to stick. I’m just glad I figured out a way to be successful in the bullpen ’cause I’d probably would have run out of options and would have had to move on.

Q: You enjoyed playing for Bobby Valentine in 2012, correct?

Bobby ValentineUPI

A: Yeah, obviously Bobby V was very controversial during his time in Boston, but for me personally, it was my first year in the bullpen, it was the most success I had. I never had any major issues with him, he put us in situations to succeed out of the bullpen, he warmed us up a lot, he used us a lot, but when we went into the game, it was usually for a good matchup, so it worked out well for me. I know our team goals weren’t met that year, it didn’t work out. It was a tough situation, I think, with [Terry] Francona leaving and everything that was going on, but … the year that Bobby V managed the Red Sox worked out all right for me.

Q: Describe getting the last out to clinch a playoff berth for the 2006 Tigers.
A: One of those things I probably took for granted at the time. I’ll never forget [closer] Todd Jones telling me that this is something not many people get a chance to do, ever, so take it in, enjoy it. I think he said, “It’s something I’ve never done, I’ll probably never get to do, just the way things work out,” so it was a lot of fun. Anytime your team gets to celebrate, whether it’s on the field then you get to go the locker room and spray the champagne and do all that stuff, is a blast. That one was huge for the city of Detroit ’cause they hadn’t been in a while, it had been a tough stretch for them. Things had really turned around that season in ’06. I got a little spoiled. I think I thought that was supposed to happen all the time, and had to be brought down to earth for it to realize that it’s tough to make the playoffs, and it’s not easy, a lot of things have to go right. Still, that was one of the coolest experiences I’ve been fortunate to have.

Q: As the sixth pick in the 2006 draft, did you put pressure on yourself in the beginning?
A: I think we always put pressure on ourselves. I think my expectations were to find success a little bit quicker. This isn’t an easy game. It seems like it’s pretty easy for us to remember the one or two guys from each class that come up and have immediate success — those guys that win MVPs and Cy Youngs and make All-Star teams in their first couple of years. But in reality, those are the outliers, and most of us, it takes a whole [season] to figure out how to find our niche or find our spot and the way to succeed at this level. I think it was a good learning process for me. It hasn’t been a smooth ride, but it’s been a rewarding one.

Q: Describe pitching for North Carolina in the 2006 College World Series.
A: It was a blast. Some of my best friends that I’ve made are guys I played with in college, and I don’t know that we ever dreamed we would make it that far. Carolina hadn’t been to the College World Series in decades. It wasn’t something we expected. I wish we had won, we got so darn close [losing to Oregon State in the championship game], but it was still one of the most fun times I’ve had playing baseball.

Q: Biggest influence on your career?
A: I don’t know, I’ve been on so many teams — I probably have as many pitching coaches as anybody in the big leagues right now. I’ve been lucky, I’ve met a lot of great teammates and coaches around me, and I think they’ve probably left their mark in one way or another.

Larry RothschildCharles Wenzelberg

Q: Describe Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
A: Larry’s been great. He’s very easy to talk to, which I think is big for the pitching coach. I think a lot of times, people are intimidated or find it hard to talk to their pitching coach. I think Larry’s very easy to relate to. He’s a wealth of knowledge. I heard great things coming in, and he’s backed it all up. I think the preparation is incredible.

Q: What is your involvement with the players union?
A: I was the player rep when I was in Florida for a little while. It’s a pretty interesting story on how the union came to be, and all the benefits that we have now, the sacrifices players before us made. I think ball players need to understand the benefits that we’ve received and how hard people worked to get these benefits for us. We all love our salaries, the minimum salary is $500-something thousand dollars this year, so even the guys at the very bottom are getting handsomely rewarded to play baseball, that everything that comes along with that, people sacrificed a lot to get that for us, and I think we need to appreciate that and carry forward a little bit, probably more so than we do.

Q: Why did you choose to live in New York City?
A: If you get a chance to live in New York City, [that] is something that you take advantage of if you get the opportunity. It’s a place everybody dreams about living, and we were given that opportunity and we’re gonna take full advantage of it.

Q: Favorite New York things?
A: I think the food is incredible, I’m looking forward to finding my favorite restaurants and that kinda stuff. There’s always something going on which is pretty exciting, and there’s an endless amount of things to do.

Q: You have a 1 1/2-year old son. How has fatherhood changed your life?
A: I get less sleep. … I don’t know that it’s really changed perspectives or much or anything. It’s a blast watching him grow, and he’s a lot of fun. It’s one of the things I don’t think you can possibly be fully prepared for, but it’s been just an incredible experience so far, and he’s getting to the age now that he’s communicating, and moving around pretty good and everything like that, so it’s a lot of fun to see your little one grow up in front of your eyes.

Q: How painful was it for you watching Duke win the NCAA basketball title?
A: It’s tough. My wife went to Duke, her parents went to Duke, and both her brothers have got two degrees, so I’m surrounded by it. Basketball season’s tough. For whatever reason, football season doesn’t seem to bother anybody in North Carolina. You gotta admire the success, but I think Carolina’s year is next year though.

MillerGetty Images

Q: Did you meet legendary Tar Heels coach Dean Smith?
A: I met him on my recruiting trip — when I say met him, I think he was throwing his golf clubs in the trunk of his car, or something like that. I read his book after he passed, ’cause I bought his book a couple of years back and never got around to reading it. All the stories started coming out about him when he passed, which were pretty incredible. Obviously the impact he left on his players and the university was pretty unreal, and it was pretty special to see. I wish I had gotten to meet him and be around him more ’cause he seemed like an incredible guy.

Q: Your wife, Katie. Why is she the right girl for you?
A: ’Cause she can put up with my son (chuckle). No, I don’t know, she’s my best friend, we started dating all the way back in high school so, been together forever, and just seem like we’re a good fit. She comes from a great family, and everybody gets along, and I couldn’t ask for a better wife.

Q: Boyhood idol?
A: Idol’s just a strong term (chuckle). As far as like baseball players I grew up watching, grew up as a Braves fan — as anybody in Florida probably would have at the time — the pitching staff they had, I remember I was drawn to Steve Avery, a left handed guy that wasn’t as well-known as Tom Glavine, I guess. … Boyhood idol … I guess you’d have to say your parents more so than, my father more than an athlete or something like that.

Q: How much of a kick was it watching the Florida Gators win back-to-back basketball titles?
A: That was really cool. So I guess the year before, I was at Carolina and Carolina won the national championship and then the next two years [the Gators] won. You don’t see in college basketball teams return like that, come back and defend a title and have everybody come back, and for them to come back and do it was pretty cool and was fun to watch. As a huge Gator fan, it’s always pretty exciting when national championships are won.

Q: Did you play basketball in high school?
A: I played on the freshman team that was it. That’s the only year I ever played organized basketball. I probably should have stuck with it a little bit more. But baseball’s turned out all right for me.